Tag Archives: outreach program

I really don’t know where to start. It’s been months already and I can still remember what happened during that day. Well, actually I can still recall the moment we decided to start and plan for this year’s Birthday Project. Since Coe has already shared a very good narration of what had happened, I’ll just share my side of the story. By the way, hands down to my good friend Coe for doing such a wonderful post. It’s her first time to do a narrative blog post as she’s more on the reflective and intellectual kind of write ups compare to mine. Hahaha! Good job Coekie!!! ^_^

Okay let’s start this looong narration of the event before the year ends!

banner by Nico Orillano

As soon as we got up, we followed up our suppliers and confirm the delivery time. While I was preparing the programme and other stuff, Coe and Ian went to Market Market to pick up 10 dozens of Pastel fresh from Camiguin! While they are getting those delicious treats I am confirming the headcount, volunteers and other suppliers for the day’s activity. After lunch, we all went to DBS to setup and prepare everything.

arranging the school’s New Canteen

volunteers preparing the materials

We were stationed at the New Canteen, very much different from the way I pictured it. So many things have changed but it’s all good. The volunteers arrived one by one and I was really happy to see them. It was fortunate that these good-hearted people trusted me coz I really don’t know most of them. We just communicated thru emails and SMS and there they are, very much willing to give a helping hand. We started with a prayer led by Ian to guide us for that momentous event.

grouping the children

The kids were already at the entrance and they were asked to fall in line in groups of 10. It was a bit disorganized but luckily was able to control it. Special thanks to my Grade School adviser, Ms. Pineda now Mrs. Oliveros for also helping us that day. The group leaders, known as Mother Goose/Father Goose were chosen to lead each group throughout the activity.

I first asked them their names and grade level before they head off to the food carts c/o Ton O Fun! The kids loved the cotton candy and popcorns! Who wouldn’t?!

asking their names and grade level

So after some sugar intake of these kids, we introduced ourselves and gave them a bit of a background of who we are and what we’re doing. We are hoping that they will get inspired and be grateful for the things they have may it be big or small.

group 1’s turn to enjoy the food carts

Here are the activities that day:

Create your own Party Hats

Father Goose of the group helping his team in making their party hats

We gave them pink strip of Pink Cartolina paper (c/o Nico) and a box of 24-pc crayons to test their artistic skills. It would be nice to see how they want their party hats to look like. Everyone was serious with their craft since we’re giving a prize to the best Party Hat-Nametag.

children fitting their party hats

After a few minutes, the volunteers picked the best hats on their group. We got the best 3 hats and eliminate by choosing the person who has the loudest clap from the audience. The winner by unanimous decision was Brenalyn.

best party hat winner, Brenalyn!

She even sang a song to us ‘coz the crowd was howling and teasing her to sing. She was shy at first but then sang “Hulog ng Langit” and everyone sang with her. Such a talented kid!

GAME 1 – Arrange Yourselves

arrange yourselves

checking if the arrangement is correct

The game was facilitated by Ian. We prepared 5 categories (Name in Alphabetical order, Height, Shoe Size, Birthday and Number of Siblings) but we had a tie. It was hard since everyone’s quite competitive. The tie breaker was the Grade Level category. Team 4 won the game.

team 4 winners

Welcoming the CCA Manila Team

CCA Manila Team

Finally, the star of the night has arrived. With the help of friend networking, we were able to collect more than 500 signatures who supports our cause. Because of this, the CCA Manila team generously sponsored the kid’s meal and even prepared some loot bags for them. The food they prepared for the kids: Spaghetti, Chicken Fingers with Gravy and a Choco Revel slice for dessert. They have drinks included too!

GAME 2 – Bring Me

While CCA Manila is preparing the food, we had our second game. The famous, Bring Me game!

Bring me the person who has the longest hair length!

As Coe said, we were literally “mobbed” during this game. Hahaha!

Food Distribution by CCA Manila

Sr. Carm starting the prayer before meals

Food distribution of CCA Manila

As soon as the CCA team finished preparing the food, Sr. Carm led the prayer before meals. A birthday song was sang afterwards before they enjoy the food that was prepared for them. Of course, group pictures per team is a must. The “most behaved” group was the first one to be called followed by the next and so forth.

Group Picture – photo grabbed from Coe’s blog

kids enjoying their meals

While the team was distributing the food, a special person came and she’s none other than, Kcat Yarza. She was one of my inspirations to be strong, be grateful and be generous no matter what your circumstances are. She gave a bagful of goodies for the kids too! However, she can’t stay long since they are also celebrating the birthday of her sister, Talitha. It was so nice of her to drop by the school and say Hi to the kids.

special guest: Kcat Yarza

GAME 3 – Human Bingo

explaining the Human Bingo rules

After dinner and some rest time, another game was done. This time, a more challenging game that requires them to get to know the people who are with them that day. The Human Bingo is similar to a bingo game where they have to fill up the boxes to win. Each box contains a description of a person that they have to look for in the crowd. This will help them to mingle in a different manner.

signing and filling up the Bingo boxes

This time, considering the sugar level of these kids, it was chaotic! Literally! Running, shouting, name it! Hahaha! The first 10 who correctly completed the papers won and were given prizes which are lunch boxes sponsored by Nuffnang.

GAME 4 – Longest Line

Longest Line game

The final game was the Longest Line. I have to warn them not to take off their clothes. They were already preparing to remove their shirts! Team 1 won this game.

After all the activities, it is time to end the day. We thank them, gave some word of advice and they again sang a Birthday Song to us. It was tiring, starting with the conceptualization, preparations and on the day event but it was all very much worth it. Seeing the smiles and hearing the sound of their laughter are priceless!

distribution of Loot Bags

In the end, like all the children’s party, we gave them loot bags that consist of the following:

Canned goods from Apple Abalos and Baby Ozato

Noodles from Michelle Abalos

Pansit Canton from Rheena Sison-Panser

1 kilo of Rice from Celia Abalos

Pastel Buns from Dr. Viel Vincent Jose

Toothpaste from NuffNang Team

Ballpens from Bryle Ian Bolong

Small bag from Ralph Alcantara

Candies and Sweets from Kcat Yarza and Valeri Ann Chua

We also added from the sponsored fund:

Biscuits and Cream Sandwiches

1 Toothbrush

1 Bar of Soap

1 box of 24-piece crayon

These are all made possible with the help of our generous sponsors who extended their help and supported our little project.

Coe & Me with the kid’s sweet Thank you messages

I’m happy that we were able to do this this year. I’m hoping that next year would be a better one. We are just a bunch of people sharing our blessings to our brothers and sisters. We wanted to show them that life is indeed beautiful and worth living whatever situation we are in. We just have to look at the brighter side of things.

Birthday Project 2012: DBS Street Kids

“This is the key to life: To expect everything to be given to you from above, yet to be genuinely surprised and forever grateful, when they are. Expecting all good things to be yours, while not knowing how to take anything for granted. If there may be a key in life, this is the key.” ― C. JoyBell C.

As mentioned, a separate page dedicated to our sponsors who didn’t hesitate to share their blessings to these kids. We were overwhelmed with the response and some of them were friends of our friends. Truly we are grateful for their big heart.

First and foremost, thank you to the FMA Sisters/Salesian Community for approving our Birthday Project to be held on their grounds, Don Bosco School, Sta. Mesa. To the Sisters, most especially to Sr. Ailyn, in-charge with the Oratories and Sr. Carmen who helped me during the planning and on the day preparations, thank you so much! During the event, Ms. Recci, my Grade 6 Adviser, was there to join and help us go about with our event. It was such a heart-warming experience to be back and see former teachers again.

The CCA Manila Team

Our major sponsor for the event was The Center for Culinary Arts Manila. They were very much willing and kind enough to sponsor the food for the street children. They not only prepared for the kids but also included the volunteers to taste their recipe made with love. They even had loot bags for the kids too!

Thank you to all those who signed up in our “Sign up for a Cause” campaign. Your participation means a lot to us. We had more than 500 names who supported our endeavor. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

Lovely Hollera, Marketing Officer of CCA Manila

Thank you Lovely Hollera, Marketing Officer of CCA Manila who is also my former bus mate for accommodating us in your busy schedule. May the CCA Team be blessed for having a generous and compassionate heart.

We also would like to thank all who donated in kind. Indeed, we appreciate everything we got no matter how big or small it is. To enumerate:

We also would like to thank the volunteers and visitors who celebrated with us even on a weekend! Their presence and service was a great help for the success of the event. We really are thankful for Jhoie, Joey, Jhoanna, Issha, Aileen, Mitch, Apple, Ryan, Marian, Michelle, Kathleen, Elyse, Christian, Therese, Kcat and to our official photographer Nico! Due to change of schedule, some of our friends didn’t make it. We also extend our gratitude to Faith and Fr. Caloiski who were supposed to be there and had a special part in the programme.

Mother Geese: Jhoanna, (ME), Issha, Jhoie, Therese, Aileen, (COE)

Me with Marian, Michelle and Kathleen

Elyse with Coe

Abalos Siblings

Kath & Coe with KCAT’s Family and Sr. Carmen

Of course, we are forever indebted to these two special men in our lives: Andrew Abalos and Ian Bolong. They were supportive as ever! As Coe said, thank you for being the “best runners”, drivers and personal assistant during the event. We wouldn’t make it without you guys on our side! Mwah Mwah, Tsup Tsup! Hahahaha! ^__^

Special mention to Abalos Family for accommodating us the night before the event. We all had a sumptuous meal c/o the girls in the family.

with my Andrew ^_^

with Coe’s Ian ^_^

I couldn’t think of a better conclusion for this post, instead I got this excerpt from Coe’s entry that says it all:

The success of an endeavor magnifies its greatness by how many lives you’ve affected and how many people you’ve touched. Thank you very much for the support and love… Kathleen and I are deeply loved and blessed.

Yesterday was the moment I’ve been waiting for to give the donations for my birthday project this year. It has been postponed for weeks now since we can’t find a schedule that fits us all.

To give you a brief background how this activity transpires, I started a project on my birth month which was last September. This project hopes to extend and inspire people to share their blessings to our less fortunate brothers and sisters. With this, I hope that I can make this a lifelong commitment to contribute to communities that needs help. To know more, you can visit my other blog: Birthday Projects

The whole gang in Grace To Be Born

Anyway, first of all I would like to thank all who participated physically and financially to make this project of mine possible. I’ve gathered a total of Php 16,000 for the benefit of Grace to Be Born shelter. The donations came from my family and friends and I would like to mention them to show my gratitude for supporting me in my project. Your generosity means a lot.

So here’s what happened when we visited the shelter yesterday. By the way, since it was moved almost reaching the month of November, Coe decided to join me in this project so it was like a double celebration for us, my birthday project plus Coe’s birthday too. ^_^

We were scheduled to visit the shelter at 4:00pm. We went in two batches since we can’t fit in one car. Me, Andrew, Ate Cha, Kuya Sheldon and Jim was first to arrive in the place. To moment we were settled, they all lined up and sat in front of us, I need to start communicating and doing some adlibs while waiting for the next batch. Actually, I’m not prepared to speak in front of them since I thought that Coe is the one in charge of the program. I have no choice since they were all looking at me. So I just talk and inform them of why we were there. I also started asking their names for their names written on their crowns.

We mingled with them and joke around. Also, two babies were isolated because they have cough and flu. And there I knew baby Nicole. She is a one year old cute jolly girl who has skin asthma and was abandoned by her mom after she gave birth to her.

After a couple of minutes, the rest of the gang arrived. They hurriedly fixed their things and started the program. Coe introduced herself and started the game: Diaper Relay. Oh boy, those moms are so competitive! Hahaha!

Coe looking for someone who can demo how to diaper a baby

The winner team was able to get a prize from us sponsored by yours truly. After the game, the two doctors were kind enough to share their knowledge and gave the mothers and soon to be moms some tips and information about breast feeding. Everyone was happy especially when we raffled out some teddy bears that was sponsored by Zeny and 2 major items: Diaper Bag with Goodies! (that was sponsored by Daven) Not only that, Kuya Sheldon also gave Php 500 each for the last 2 moms that wasn’t picked during the raffle plus a gift pack.

The doctors are seriously informing and lecturing the mothers and moms-to-be

While we were having fun in the visitor’s area, Andrew and Jim went to the Nursery Room to check the babies. They were accompanied by Ms. Aira of Grace to Be Born and informed them how young the babies were. They had their own time there!

Andrew inside the Nursery Room

After the fun time, we decided to pray and eat the food we brought to the center. We allotted Php 1000 for the food and the rest would be given to the shelter in cash. They prefer donations in cash so that they can pay the rent and other miscellaneous stuff the shelter needs to pay to continue their operation.

Before we finally dig in to the food, we surprised Coe for her birthday. (It’s really on November 3!) ^_^

A Surprise Gift for Coekie

We had pizzas, pansit and bread, cakes that was sponsored by Jim and of course drinks for everyone. We had juice for the moms and soda for us!

Time to Eat!

After eating, we had our time to mingle and talk to moms and know their stories. It was nice talking to them and we enjoyed hearing their stories. It was sad but inspiring as well. They are empowered women to be proud of. They are heroes on their own way since they’ve decided not to abort the baby and keep it. It takes a lot of strength to decide something like that.

Mingling with the babies

I gave the donation with the sum of Php 15,000 since Php 1,000 was used for the food. Grace to be Born gave me a book by Rey Ortega entitled: Crazy Love for The Poor as a token of appreciation.

We all had a fruitful day and I’m sure everyone had a great time. It was a different experience for each one and I bet for the moms too.

Last Saturday, we had our first outreach program for the year. It was such a great and heart warming experience when you know you helped less fortunate people and share them your blessings.

We went to Tahanan ng Pagmamahal in Oranbo, Pasig that takes care of 12 girls who were abandoned by their parents. Well, some of them are in temporary custody because their parents can’t raise them well considering their financial status. If in the future, they can prove that they can raise their child, they can bring their child home with them again. I hope they do.

Anyway, I’ll just share you what had happened that day with them.

I arrived there a little bit late and found them enjoying watching cartoons. I later found out that they are just allowed to watch tv on a Friday night and the whole Saturday. Talk about discipline!

While waiting for the others, Cristina and I decided to make some balloons for the kids. I was planning to decorate the whole place but I can’t do it given the little time I had. I brought my balloon gears and made balloons for everyone. We also played volleyball and badminton while waiting for them to arrive. Finally after an hour or so, we were complete!

We gathered them inside and they introduced themselves to us. In fairness, they already have a routine on how to do that. They know who will introduce first and who comes next. Now, talk about systematic approach! Hahaha!

After the introduction, Wheng had her welcome speech and gave them the instructions for the day’s activity. They are to draw anything they want in a 1/4 illustration board. Similar to those activities we had in our elementary years that we have to submit our “masterpiece” to our Art Teacher. They all had fun creating their artwork. Some of them used watercolor and others used crayons.

After the artwork was the gift giving. The gifts were supposed to be given to them last Christmas but due to some schedule conflicts, we decided to give it after the Holidays. The gift giving was in lieu of our yearly exchange gifts in the office. Instead of giving gifts to one another, we decided to pick one child from the orphanage and give them gifts for Christmas. Since we are 15 in the team and there are only 12 children, the remaining 3 contributed for the grocery package including the donations from Sydney office. So apart from the individual gifts, we had also given them grocery package to last hopefully for a month or so.

After the gift giving, they had their Lunch breakfast. =) It was lunch time but they were eating hotdog and egg meal from none other than Jollibee!

As for the finale, we gave them the balloons and they sang a Thank you song for us. They were all grateful for our presence and so are we. We are planning to do a regular outreach program to them, hopefully it can push through.

This experience showed us that there are lots of abandoned children in the country and we should share and extend a helping hand to them. It is always nice to share our blessing to those who are in need. I hope that someday, these kids will grow up and live with their real parents.

“Calling all running enthusiasts, compassionate givers or just anybody who wants to have fun and enjoys fellowship!” – this was my friend Ate Pache‘s invitation to me in facebook. I told her I like to join the “runs” for a cause so she sent me this invitation.

So I also invite everyone to do something extra ordinary for those who haven’t tried this before. I’m sure this will be fun especially if you know that you’re helping build a good future for someone while running. At the same time, you’ll help yourself to be healthy too! It’s a Win-Win situation.

It’s a K for K event. This is a 2010 Kerygma Fun Raiser. The registration will start on April 25, 2010 in every Kerygma Feast held in major cities in the Philippines. The main event will be held at SM Mall of Asia Grounds at May 29, 2010, 5.30 a.m.

Today, I really had a wonderful day. Thank you Lord for all the blessings you’ve given be every day of my life.

This afternoon, I had a chance to visit He Cares Foundation in Project 8. The September Celebrants in our company organized an outreach program for 50 kids. We had games, dance numbers from the “household girls and boys” then gave them jollibee spaghetti and chicken for merienda, and then giveaways like bag, toiletries, candies and small pillows. We are all tired but it was all worth it. This was my second outreach program for the year. I hoping for another one before the year ends. =)

After that, with some acting skills from my boyfriend. My sisters “surprised” me for an advance birthday celebration in East Ave. Infairness to them, I was a little bit surprised. Hahahaha. =) Thanks guys, you never fail me! By the way, had a free pizza from the restaurant. If I remember it right, it says “gaite de cour”?! Is that correct? hahaha.